Press

WAM in the Press

LGBTQ-Friendly Destinations to visit During Pride Month and Beyond

“THe coastal city has long been an inclusive, safe haven for the gay community, welcoming 1.5 million LGBTQ travelers annually, according to its visitors bureau. The Wilton Manors neighborhood is home to the World AIDS Museum and Educational Center…” Read full piece here.

The World AIDS Museum Raises Awareness Every Day Of The Year

” … with so many people affected by this epidemic, only one museum exists in the entire world devoted to it: The World AIDS Museum and Educational Center in Wilton Manors, Florida.” Read the full piece here.

STYX’s CHUCK PANOZZO Releases Special Message About World AIDS Museum

“Through the years, I struggled with my feelings about my diagnosis and found that the stigma of being HIV positive was actually worse than having the disease itself. I’ve wanted to release myself of this feeling for so long. It became crippling… ” Read the full piece here.

Long-Term Survivors Gather to Share Stories of Resilience

“Taking part in The Reunion Project over the weekend renewed my faith that as long as we work collectively — rather than scattered solo efforts — we will experience the real reward of being in this community, inviting others to opt to be with us, rather than going it alone.” Read the short piece here.

An Evening With Larry Kramer Doesn’t Disappoint

“Kramer is frustrated that these days there isn’t more of a fight for LGBT rights and AIDS advocacy. “For most of our history, we have not been good fighters,” Kramer lamented. “That’s the saddest message I’ve learned over the last year. Why aren’t we all fighting for the rights that we’re entitled to?”” Read the article here.

New Museum Exhibit Explores 30 Years of AIDS Activism

“The exhibit’s opening coincides with two other events. Kramer will headline another event called “An Evening with Larry Kramer,” set for 8 p.m. March 10 at the Sunshine Cathedral MCC, 1480 SW Ninth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. He will be interviewed on stage by Sessums about AIDS and the LGBTQ movement.” Read the full article here.

Five Questions: An Evening With Larry Kramer

“Kramer is quite a force to be reckoned with and he has been fighting for the gay community since long before it was socially acceptable to come out as an openly gay person in society. It is a pleasure to present this Hotspots Exclusive interview with Larry Kramer before his presentation at the Sunshine Cathedral on March 10.” Read the piece.

Larry Kramer Coming to the World AIDS Museum

“This new exhibit means that WAM is broadening its impact and attracting the attention of national and global organizations.” Beswick told SFGN. “It also details individuals who are keys to the past, present, and future of HIV/AIDS. Larry Kramer has been at the heart of the AIDS story.” Read the full article.

Emotions Run Deep Whenever Larry Kramer Comes To Town

The World AIDS Museum and Educational Center (WAM) announces the opening on March 8 of a major new exhibit, AIDS Crisis in America: 30 Years of ACT UP – A Convergence of Disease, Art and Human Resilience. Exhibits and Events Feature Larry Kramer’s 30-Year History as an Internationally Known Activist and Co-Founder of ACT UP and Gay Men’s Health Crisis. Read the full release.

Be sure not to miss the World AIDS Museum in Wilton Manors

…A room in the museum is dedicated to the impact AIDS has had on the African-American community. It features photos from San Francisco’s own Duane Cramer, who helped design the space. Cramer liked Fort Lauderdale so much that he now is bicoastal, splitting his time between San Francisco and the Florida city. No doubt the room will continue to be a very positive impact on raising HIV awareness under Cramer’s influence. Read full review of South Florida here.

Film Shows Realness of Black Gay Love

“This groundbreaking film depicts homophobia & stigma surrounding homosexuality/HIV in the black community… Martin Shaw, KiKi Project coordinator at the Pride Center, is expected to introduce the film and lead a conversation. Christopher Bates, Director of the Department of HIV Men’s Prevention for the State of Florida…” Read the full article.

The exhibit is a traveling one and for its opening the Old Dillard Museum was selected as a host site. ‘Saving Grace’ tells the story of the black community’s relationship with AIDS. It is a story, Ed Sparan said, often muted by shame and stigma.

Those who visit the museum’s Wilton Station location can watch a 20-minute video, which includes an interview with Bobby Henry, Sr. (publisher of the Westside Gazette), Florida Senator Chris Smith (D-Fort Lauderdale), South Florida pastors and people who have been infected with the HIV/AIDS virus.

“I was 15 when I was diagnosed,” says Yolanda Reed in the video. “I was angry when I first found out and I did some real reckless things.” Read the full piece here.

‘Grace’ under pressure in Fort Lauderdale

Duane Cramer’s photo (left) of film director Patrik-Ian Polk is featured in the new show “Saving Grace.”

A survivor with AIDS for 27 years, Yolanda Reed has been outspoken about her disease and how it was stigmatized in the 1980s as a virus affecting only homosexuals. Her story appears in a new exhibit of photos and videos called “Saving Grace: the AIDS Crisis in the Black Community.” …Speaking over the phone this week, Reed says her family helped her through the worst moments of treatment, but she stresses that many other “black families don’t have that luxury.”

The timing of the exhibit falls on the heels of what World AIDS Museum founder Hugh Beswick calls “alarming” statistics: The Florida Department of Health, in 2014, estimated that African-Americans accounted for 47 percent of the 109,969 people living in Florida with an HIV infection. Read more.

World AIDS Museum, Vitas Healthcare, and Westside Gazette present, ‘Saving Grace’, a multimedia exhibit on the impact of HIV/AIDS on Black community

“I want the community to see that people, real people, no matter the status, color or sexual orientation, HIV/AIDS affects us all. If my family can bare, if you will, on all levels, the pain of the loss of loved ones – brother, cousins, aunts and the ugliness some people associate with AIDS, then maybe others will do the same and a real healing begins.” Read in full here.

Museum Shares Stories of HIV Positive Millennials

Beswick noted Broward County has the highest conversion rate of HIV cases in the nation with roughly 150 new infections in people under the age of 24 every year. For that reason, WAM is partnering with Broward County Schools to launch an educational initiative aimed at reducing the infection rate.“This has been an amazing experience for us. We had quite a challenge to get 10 people who are young who are willing to stand up and talk about what it’s like to be living with HIV. This affects people for the balance of their lives,” Beswick said. “We need to remember that. It is really a big deal.” Beswick said. Read more.

An Update on the World AIDS Museum and Ongoing Projects

…the World AIDS Museum is reaching out to the community and teaching schoolchildren about safer sex practices, as well as organizing new interactive exhibits which will hopefully not just educate people who go to the museum, but eventually people all over the world via the Internet.“We’re in a pretty unique position to impact the world.” Read more.

Making History

Art is a “great tool” for teaching about the epidemic, he says. In fact, the museum is hosting an AIDS awareness art project with 40 high schools across Broward County, which is home to both Fort Lauderdale and the museum. Winners from each school will be displayed in a gallery at the museum. Read More.

NEW CHARTER CLUB AT MUSEUM

The World Aids Museum in Ft. Lauderdale is actively contributing to the historical, educational, and cultural landscape of South Florida and beyond. Through hard work and dedication, the Museum has captured the interest of the nation as evidenced by numerous requests for information and articles in the media. Its reach has now expanded to include… Read more.

“The vision is for individuals to join the Charter Club to sustain and support the work of the Museum on an annual and ongoing basis. The goal is for the Museum to raise $7000 in monthly support.”

5 Things You Can’t Miss In Fort Lauderdale, Florida

“The first museum of its kind, the space chronicles the fascinating, eye-opening, and often heart-wrenching history of HIV/AIDS through a timeline exhibit starting in 1908 (not 1980 — 1908!), art, interactive multimedia and memorabilia. The docent-led or self-guided tours offer a window into the history, hope and devastation of this highly politicized disease and the 39 million lives it has taken.” See the list.

Fort Lauderdale embraces LGBT visitors

“…we were not prepared to be as moved as we were by the World AIDs museum and its featured exhibit — A Chronology of AIDs — which artfully displays the impact of this horrible pandemic, the big names in the world of fashion, theatre, the arts and sports who were stricken by it, and the often shameful politics behind the treatment of HIV and AIDs.” Read more.